In a
29-page directive, the commission outlined the ways discrimination can be based on someone’s “actual or perceived ‘alienage and citizenship status,’ and ‘national origin.'”
The commission listed hypothetical examples of violations, including:
- A hotel prohibiting its housekeepers from speaking another language because it would “offend” guests.
- A landlord threatens to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an Indian immigrant family complains in the housing court after they find mold and cockroaches in their unit.
- A store owner tells two people speaking Thai to “speak English” or “go back to your country.”
Earlier this month,
a New York judge recommended a landlord pay $17,000 after threatening to call immigration authorities on an undocumented tenant. The city’s Commission on Human Rights represented the tenant and filed a complaint on her behalf in January 2018, citing the landlord’s discrimination against her.
According to the judge’s written report, some of the texts the landlord said included “HAVE MY MONEY OR IM CALLING ICES [sic] THAT DAY PERIOD,” and “I REPORTED YOU TO IMMIGRATION BOO THEY KNOW IM THE LANDLORD TO PROVIDE THEM KEYS COME DIRECTLY TO YOU.”
And following ICE raids in July across major US cities, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants in the US.